Hired Hands Come Together for Another Round of Applause

A few dozen men and women hired to sit in a television audience and look good doing it assembled one recent morning at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. “Leeza” was taping a new promo during an otherwise slow summer hiatus period. It’s one of many television shows looking for warm bodies to present a polished image, often to offset the wrinkled T-shirt- and baseball-cap-clad hordes lining up for free tickets.

Their instructions as heard on a call hotline: “All women in business suits or nice blazer-skirt combos. No jeans or tennies. Very upscale business attire, please. Look very polished and professional. Men, this goes for you too. And wear nothing red, black or white.”

The money isn’t much, often just minimum wage. “You can’t beat that though; [they’re] getting paid for sitting there clapping their hands,” said Lisette St. Claire, the casting director, who works for Burbank-based Cenex Casting.

Clients, including “Leeza” and “Kids Say the Darndest Things,” typically want one thing: upscale-looking 18- to 40-year-olds, she said. Producers don’t worry about populating the entire audience with “types,” just 20 or 30 people strategically placed in the first few rows.

“They just want to be sure they get the most professional-looking people,” St. Claire said. “They’d rather get them than people in jeans and thongs off the street. They want to hire you because you look better than the people they get.”

People registered with her agency listen to a hotline, and if interested call in with their names and Social Security numbers, enabling the casting director to call up their photos on his computer.

“We have an account set up with [the client]; and let’s say I hire 25 people--that 25 get put on a list and vouchers are printed up and get sent to the show that night.” Latecomers and early-leavers don’t get vouchers so don’t get paid.

St. Claire also has been known to hire audience laughers. “I’d audition them on the phone. If I liked the way they laughed, I’d book them.”

Shows also sometimes pay PTAs, sororities and other nonprofit groups for audience work performed on a fund-raising basis.

Not surprisingly, the industry isn’t eager to talk about its need to pay people to watch shows that home audiences endure commercials--and sometimes pay a premium--to see. Better to maintain the illusion that people have waited patiently for a year or more for free tickets, a luxury enjoyed among some of the most popular programs.

When asked for a comment about the need to hire people who make a living doing this type of work, a studio representative responded with laughter and said, “Is it possible to make a living doing this? It’s like $5 an hour; it’s like lunch money.”

Getting paid to sit is no different from working as an extra to “Miles,” a striking 30-year-old blond who didn’t want his real name used. His extra and audience work keeps him busy three or four days a week, but he still takes the odd job or tends bar during slow periods.

Why does he do it? “I had an opportunity for a career change and no ties, and I went for it. I didn’t want to look back and say, ‘What if.’ ”

Audience work pays Miles as little as $50 a day. After working as an extra and audience sitter for more than six months, he has few grandiose ideas about becoming a movie star. Low pay aside, he enjoys the endless variety, access to the industry and interesting people he meets during his workday.

“For what you’re doing, it’s good money,” he said. “I’ve worked in a steel mill and seen people get hurt and die working there. I’ve had metal dug out of my eye with a needle.” As an aspiring actor, Miles also sees his dues-paying as a chance to learn what he can about the entertainment business and perhaps make valuable contacts.

His long-range goals are substantial: “To be a big actor with lots of money. I wouldn’t even care if I was a small actor with lots of money. I’m a big-money guy. If I could make a living without being in the public spotlight, that would be even better.”

Miles works with as many as five casting directors or agencies at a time to maintain a flow of work to choose from. “There are so many different ways to go about it. Postings online, trade magazines, going to different agencies and calling services. It’s endless.”

Gigs are usually booked a day in advance, often giving Miles just enough time to get his clothes ready, plan a strategy to arrive on time and get a good night’s rest.

What it takes: “You have to be very . . . not sloppy. Don’t be late. Use your common sense about not goofing off or talking during taping. Be respectful, and consider what’s going on; and treat it as something of value.”

“You check in and hang out till they need you, off and on. When they need you, they send you in.”

All that sitting could be boring, but not to Miles. “If you’re a stick-in-the-mud, it would be. I meet people and have fun.”

Carol Bennett of Oklahoma City does paid audience work perhaps five times a year during visits to the Southland. After living in California for 22 years and raising her children, she has returned to Oklahoma to care for her mother and work as a public school counselor, as well as a manufacturer of bookmarks for Bible study.

Upon her return, she calls Hollywood hotlines looking for extra and paid audience work. “It’s not a career, it’s just an interesting, fun thing to do,” Bennett said. “It pays about as well as teachers make, and there’s a lot less red tape. And it requires less patience to do this than teach.”

Among other programs, she has done “Cosby,” and enjoys the connection she feels with the stars.

“Aside from making money, it was funny for me,” Bennett said. “And once you get to see the people up close, you have a closer feeling toward them when you see them in the audience.”